Yesterday we turned 10 years old. Our community has endured more than can be summarized over the last decade. We've seen the planet Bob mold and shift into what we see today; we've seen the addition of Aircraft, Navies, Generals; we've seen alliance rise to power and we've seen those at the top fall; most importantly, we've seen friends come and go, some returning, some moving on to better places.

This community has meant more to me than I'm able to illustrate in a post. To myself and many others The Legion is far more than a collection of players from Cybernations. The Legion has brought friends from around the nation, in all walks of life, that have helped to mold us into who we are today.

Walking into our tenth birthday I knew that we needed something special to commemorate such a memorable achievement. How, though, can I summarize what The Legion means to all of us? I'm not able to manipulate a pen like Sinatra could in days past, I don't have the patience to articulate a wall of text to compete with The God of Lightning, and I don't have the same way with words that command attention like totem.

"What does The Legion mean to me?"

There is no single answer. The Legion has been what each of us has needed, what each of us has loved, and to each of us it's a unique piece of our personal history. The Legion is nothing short of an experience only translated from each of us individually. Fittingly, for our 10th anniversary I went on a mission to contact Legionnaires from all parts of our history to gather a statement on what The Legion has meant to them. While my words would almost certainly fall short, hopefully their will shine.

Happy Birthday, Legion. Enjoy this blast from the past!

/s/
Konkrage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melidan

The Legion was more a family than a forum. Years have passed and I still think back on those times and smile. I will always remember the moments we shared and the friends I made. Ave Legio.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Necronomis

Honestly, not sure I can give a single quote about what the legion means/meant to me. I was a kid when I joined, and people here became my family. I made friends here that I grew close to, who I could tell things I could never tell anyone else. I survived really hard times in my life by coming here and being a part of this. Sounds silly, or sappy, but I needed this place. If I'm being truthful, I found the game boring as hell from the beginning, but I kept playing for years because of the alliance and the people I knew here and in IRC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hubb

Except for a small time, The Legion has remained my home during my entire tenure of Cybernations. I have lived and fought beside some of the greatest Legionnaires to have ever worn the purple mantle. I am happy to have my place in the Hall of Fame with them.

My time in The Legion has been an extraordinary one. I joined October 14th, 2008. I was 16 years old, I am going to be 24 this year. Through everything in my life, good times and bad times, the Legion has been a home to me. Most everyone sat back and listened to my problems and successes and gave me advice to move forward in the right direction, and kicked me in the ass to keep me moving when I needed it.

I may have faded from the forefront of Legion and Cybernations politics, but just know that the call comes in for fire support and my nation is still here, fully armed and highly... prepared for prolonged war.

To those old and young, may Legion always be our home. Ave o/

Quote:

Originally Posted by The God of Lightning

I've been a proud member of The Legion for 9 years and 2 months. I was initially a member in name only and barely looked at our forums. Then Purplegate happened. With our alliance falling apart I wanted to understand why it was happening and that is why I started taking an interest in what was happening in our alliance. I can't remember exactly how much I sent out in reparations but it was a lot. Posting in the organisation threads for the reparations is what gave me the confidence to get involved in other areas of The Legion. I eventually became the DoGM and then the MoIA.

My favourite Legion memory is organising our alliance map for one of our past anniversaries. I can't remember if it was for IV or VI but I worked out the Lon and Lat coordinates everyone needed and we spelt IV or VI on our alliance map. I'm also proud of all the guides we finished during my time as the DoGM and I've always enjoyed being part of the Australian wing of The Legion along side Arcadian and Dendarii. I hope there are still some other Australians out there.

For any new members reading this I encourage you to get involved in The Legion. Don't wait for a constitutional crisis like I did. Start with something simple and one day you'll be in the Consulate.

Happy Birthday Legion. 10 More Years.

TGOL
Legion member since 26 November 2006
Former DoGM
Former MoIA

P.S. It wouldn't be a TGOL wall of text without GM advice so make sure you're backcollecting, improvement swapping, using the correct government choice, collecting on Defcon 5 and for our largest nations check your government positions. Changing certain government positions might help you if it reduces your crime index a level.

Quote:

Originally Posted by King William IV

The Legion was all about hard work, learning to accept change, and finding unique solutions. Hard work because I had to keep a nation alive at a military school with no cybernations access, because any work one does would mostly go unnoticed, and because of many hours of IRC and debates that lead to results. It was about accepting change, because I joined right after GW3, I went through purple gate with many of you, and between that, the first occupation, the first charter, and constantly trying to improve a dwindling player base and public reputation that would shift on a whim. The unique solutions was the best part, it's where I got to dabble with the folks like LadyAberdeen, Hubb, TGOL, Melidan, totem, Iron Wolf, clock, Arb, Arcadian, Sinatra, Jacosby (ty for watching my nation), Assarax (first person I got to know), Lord Necro, Imperial, so many I'm forgetting and importantly Konkrage. In my time we got rid of the representative system and switched to the imperator govt, between hours of debate in the forums, the first draft that people didn't see was debated about on IRC between a few folks and I before a draft was presented. Those late nights talking with folks like Konk and totem helped shape the alliances future. Special shoutout to Iron Wolf and my love child, the praetorian guard. Konkrage, you kept me on an even keel many times, thanks for that. To you fine folks who remain, Ave Legio, and may you get as much or more out of your time here than I did.

/s/
King William IV
Former Representative
Former Speaker of the House
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
Forever a Legionnaire

Quote:

Originally Posted by totem

Nation created: 1/20/2007
Join date: 1/21/2007

A lot of people have called the Legion home in its 10 years history. I'm happy to be one of them and hope I've managed to do my part in helping her survive and thrive on planet Bob. At the time of this writing the Legion is the third oldest alliance still active in the game, and we have the scars to prove it. From #1 to almost disbanded and under foreign occupation and back up to sanction, the old girl has seen it all. And the one thing that kept us strong all these years is the community, who've sacrificed their pixels and more importantly, their free time (and sometimes even their sexy time ) to make sure the Legion kept going no matter what.

I don't want to list my jobs, titles or other accolades here because this isn't about me. Instead I want to say thank you for all the great people I've met, thank you for all the things I've learned and thank you for all the memories.

The Legion endures
Ave Legio!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcadian Empire

At heart, the Legion is a community of people - and when you bring people from all over the world with some commonality, put them in one place and let things happen, you get awesome memories you'll look back fondly on. You usually just don't know it at the time. But that's the beauty of it." - Arcadian Empire; Director of Communications, Minister of Internal Affairs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Assarax

In 2007, a young, immature, ruler created a nation. On the advice of a friend, that kid joined The Legion.

A few short months later, just as I was becoming comfortable, taking on responsibilities and making friends, the unthinkable happened. The alliance collapsed overnight. As the alliance ranks crumbled and once loyal members jumped ship for more peaceful shores, a few dedicated soldiers remained. I'm glad to have been one of them. In the years that followed, we built something we were proud of. Something we'll always be proud of. We rose the ranks once more, giving the finger to everyone who told us we should just lay down and die.

The Legion, to me, is more than just a name, a collection of nation-states. It's always been a family made up of people who would fight tooth and nail for each other, no matter the price. My nation is now gone and I am no longer an active member of this wonderful group, but nothing makes me smile quite like reading those Hall of Fame entries written for the truly exceptional people I'm blessed to call friends.

I'm endlessly joyful that The Legion has endured these years that I've been away. Though life may take us in many directions, flung far to the corners of the Earth, a part of us will always remember that we were, and are, Legionnaires.

Ave Legio, my brothers and sisters. Happy 10th anniversary.

~Assarax

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Arbiter

The legion was a place where people from all over the world came together and collaborated to grow and prosper. I was always amazed by how much effort people put into their jobs and how people really cared about the alliance. It really was incredible.

The Arbiter
House of Representatives
Minister of Economics
Director of Intelligence

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wain

I joined Legion in... what was it, 2006? 2007? It's been a long bloody time. I was fairly new to the game, maybe two months old at the time, and had previously been aligned with my (then) boyfriend and some of his roommates. You'll have to forgive my old-lady brain, but I don't remember too much from the beginning. Great Britain was President at the time, and somewhere along the line VL became Prime Minister. I had a few inner-alliance duties along the way, mostly working as a Recruiter and a "Training Cadre"? Is that still a thing? At any rate, I recruited a few newbies, fought a few wars, did all the magical things, and then something, something, politics, something, ran for Home Minister and won. That was pretty sweet.

There were a fair share of wars. I think we spent more time either in or preparing for war than we spent in peace. There was, uh... *pulls out list of medals* Great War III, which I think took place not long after I joined. The Dove War against those Valhallan bastards, the Unjust War... and apparently I was a part of the Second Unjust War. That's good to know. I'll have to look that one up later.

But, apart from all that outside hooplah, I was a rather busy bee inside the Legion. After serving as Home Minister for a term under VL (I think?) I went on to become Deputy Prime Minister under Swampy. A few more wars, a false disbanding (which somehow got my name on it despite the fact there was no official meeting on the subject), and at that point I think I fell off Planet Bob.

I'm sure the full story is absolutely riveting, but I can only recall a fraction of it. I remember so many names, avatars, and friendships made here, though (some of which I still keep in regular contact with), and I'm thankful for that much. Legion will always hold a special, pixelated place in my heart. And, should I ever return to CN, I would enjoy doing it all over again.

n_n
- wain

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iron Wolf

No better community; no place like The Legion, no place like home.

5/29/2006-3/19/2008
6/19/2008-Planet Bob is ended

DoGM, MoIA, Historian, Praetorian Guard Commander

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xineoph

10 years in The Legion come April 17. 10 years that I would not want to replace with anything. 10 years of various positions held, helping others, War, and Peace. Thank you for everything. I'll see you guys at the 20th anniversary and beyond.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. AdmiralX

My time in the legion was a place I felt at home, I looked forward to coming from school and spending time with those I considered friends. Minister of Defense, Minister of Economics, Director of Game Mechanics

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salman Naveed

The Legion is another world besides the one I live in. It is a world where I can go with the knowledge that my ideas, my beliefs and my visions matter there and that there would be someone to help me out and to guide me and to treat me as if I was king.

Ave Legio!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Konkrage

The Legion has been my home for almost a decade. The members of this community have seen me mature from a whiny 15 year old into the adult that I am today. I joined The Legion in 2006 and can still remember the days of waking up 2 hours before school just to manage my Cohort. The Legion was my first job, because being part of a 1,400+ member organization is nothing short of just that: a job. The Legion showed me what it meant to work as a team, to depend on friends, to take criticism (thank you), and much more. The Legion sparked my interest in business, which eventually lead to my current career. The Legion has shaped, and continues to shape, me in unforgettable ways. I am truly grateful to be a member of the community.

It has been an honor to have served with each and every one of you. I cannot thank each of you enough for sticking with me over the years. Looking back, I still don't know how you guys let that entitled 15 year old take a leadership position, but I am beyond grateful.

The Legion was founded by Great Britain, January 31 2006. Originally, the alliance was named FCS Foreign Legion, as it originated from the expeditionary force, The Foreign Legion, of The Federal Commonwealth Society in NationStates.

It is now January the 31st GMT time, a time that is more or less one year after the Legion was born in Cyber Nations. Legion looks rosey now, but back a year a lot of things could have played out differently, Initially when i had found this game, thanks to a link in Valiturus signature on the Nasicournia forum, i was torn on whether to join as a founding member of a then debated ADN Alliance from Nationstates (which we now know and love as ODN), after much deliberation i decided to create my own alliance.

And so, it came to pass that the second Nationstates cross over arrived at the door of CN, we didn't make the waves that NPO did, even though we become the fourth strongest alliance after the first day, behind GATO, NPO and NAAC.

For the first few days or so, we went by the name 'FCS Foreign Legion', this was due to the fact that a majority of our first members hailed from FCSTO regions in Nationstates, those recruits and members from the CPFC BBS, formed our membership foundation.

After a few days, our name changed to The Legion in February, to help promote ourselves to more nations, this worked and recruitment picked up steadily, enabling us to attract such esteemed and well known players in our first full month, such as SocCarolina, Lord Swampy, Master Revan and North Prussia, those greats are still among us as Legionnaires today!

Fast forward to today and it is time to celebrate our first year birthday!

*Great Britain cracks open the champagne

Since this is posted in the public forums, I'd also like to introduce you to the new Legion consulate (government):